Legion testifies before House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity on GI Bill claims processing and the Veterans Employment Center.
Improving the technology used to manage education and employment benefits for veterans is important. It can save waste in the system and make everything run more efficiently to the benefit of veterans, as well as the Department of Veterans Affairs.
“We must be sure not to overlook the human factors involved in ensuring the veterans who transition to the civilian world get the tools they need to maximize the education opportunities and succeed in their careers,” said Davy Leghorn, assistant director of the Legion’s Veterans Employment and Education Division, during a congressional hearing Nov. 3.
Leghorn presented written and oral statements conveying the Legion’s positions to the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity. Focused around the digital solutions implemented by VA to manage education and employment benefits, the hearing explored changes to Post-9/11 GI Bill claims processing and the Veterans Employment Center.
In the same fashion the Legion created the original GI Bill during World War II, The American Legion helped usher in a new generation of education opportunities for American veterans in June 2008. Congress passed the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008, establishing a new education benefit program under chapter 33 of title 38 United States Code, refered to as the Post-9/11 GI Bill.
When the Post-9/11 GI Bill became law, VA had just under 13 months to develop a new, complex system to process the newly eligible beneficiaries under the brand new program. Creating new processes to provide timely Post-9/11 GI Bill payments to schools and student veterans was an enormous challenge and the gravity of the task led to early struggles.
As part of VA’s efforts to improve Post-9/11 GI Bill claims processing, the automated Long Term Solution was implemented with the intention of halving the time it takes to process benefit payments. “In theory, it’s supposed to take human claims processors out of the equation – using computer systems to process claims,” Leghorn noted.
To date, VA’s information technology systems have not yet automated all original and supplemental claims. Due to time limitations and prioritization of effort, VA has focused on automating the supplemental claims, but not all of the supplemental claims have been automated at this point.
“It is clear that VA requires additional funding to enhance LTS with functionality to process all original and supplemental claims with little human intervention,” added Leghorn.
In March of this year, The American Legion supported legislation that would mandate that VA complete the transition to a full IT solution.
A newly released GAO report further demonstrates room for improvement with VA IT. The report shows that VA is overpaying schools and veterans when Post-9/11 GI Bill users drop a class or leave school. “The process that VA uses for addressing overpayments should be improved. This would create more certainty for student veterans and could also help VA become better stewards of taxpayer dollars,” Leghorn said.
During his testimony, Leghorn encouraged Congress to authorize and appropriate the necessary resources for IT solutions which would reduce the labor-intensive nature of these tasks and reduce the burden for repaying overpayments – which falls disproportionately on veterans.
Improving the operation of the LTS, VA can help process the education benefits more efficiently and reduce unnecessary processes that creates debt problems for both the government and veterans pursuing their education.
In regard to VA’s Veterans Employment Center (VEC), The American Legion believes there is great potential in this one-stop veterans employment platform.
The VEC is the first government-wide product that brings together a reputable cadre of public and private employers with real job opportunities and provides transitioning servicemembers, veterans and their families with the tools to translate their military skills into plain language and build a profile that can be shared – in real time – with employers who have made a public commitment to hire veterans.
Users of the application reported their need to save information multiple times as portions of their profiles were constantly being jettisoned from their account when logging back in and after periods of non-use. Some veterans reported having to re-enter and "save progress" as many as three times to complete their profiles.
The concerns do not end there, Leghorn explained. VEC has touted itself as a cache of resumes and profiles that helps VA and private sector employers find veterans. To date, the Legion has yet to come across one instance where VA or a private sector employer reached out to a veteran for an interview after reviewing resumes on the VEC.
Leghorn said he believes it is important to focus on continued IT improvements with the online application, not ignore the VA employment specialists and coordinators that work directly with veterans.
“We believe that the best thing we can do to for the VEC is to build and improve the services around it,” he said. “VA is the focal point of veterans programs and services, so the consolidation of the Homeless Veterans' Reintegration Program and Jobs for Veterans State Grants funding and services under VA’s Office of Economic Opportunities simply makes sense.”
More attention to the functionality of the VEC can give both veterans and employers better tools to match capable veterans to the jobs they need.
Leghorn closed out his testimony suggesting the implementation of a balance between already incorporated system process and the employees that have been providing assistance to countless veterans.
“Improving the operation of the LTS, VA can help process the education benefits more efficiently and reduce unnecessary processes that creates debt problems for both the government and veterans pursuing their education,” he said. “We must not forget the importance of the human factor and the need for employment counselors and specialists who can help get veterans on the right track and avoid letting them slip through the cracks.”
- Education